State: More training required for 'alternate route' teachers

Thousands of new teachers coming into the classroom as a second career will need to take many hours of additional training under rules approved by the state Board of Education today.

These "alternate route" teachers now make up more than a third of all new hires in New Jersey public schools, and had previously been required to take 200 hours of training once on the job and to work alongside veteran teachers in their first months.

But in a study earlier this year, many of the teachers said the training and mentoring weren't enough -- if, in some cases, they happened at all. They complained they were too often left to flounder in the classroom.

The latest rules proposed by the Corzine administration aim to address the worries on several fronts, and will take effect for alternate route teachers starting after September 2009. That will mean alternate route teachers starting in mid-year next year will face the new requirements.

In addition to the 200 hours, for instance, new alternate route teachers will be required to take 24 hours of training in class management and other pedagogy skills before their first day in the classroom.

And those going into elementary schools will need an additional 90 hours for specific training in how to teach reading and math.

"Teachers need to start in teaching reading, writing and math from day one," said Jay Doolan, an assistant education commissioner. "And most of the teachers want to have these methods and techniques. They know how important they are, and they know they are ill-equipped."

Approved unanimously by the state board, the new rules are part of a package of changes that seek to alter how all new teachers are trained and certified, as well the standards they must follow once on the job.

Aside from the alternate route path, more-traditional college programs that train teachers as undergraduates will also face new scrutiny, officials said. Included will be a state council to review and approve all college-based programs every seven years and to make sure they are aligned with the state's curriculum standards.

"Colleges already need to be approved, but this will really ratchet it up and more clearly ensure the quality of the programs," Doolan said.

The state board also added another teaching standard concerning ethics and professional conduct, and imposed new guidelines requiring any certified staff to alert their district within 14 days if ever arrested for any infraction, criminal or otherwise.